Gilroy rode strong second and fourth quarters to defeat Pajaro Valley 29-19 on Senior Night Saturday.
“In this league, anybody can beat anybody and in my opinion, the only team that could beat us was ourselves and we beat ourselves multiple times in multiple games,” said coach Jubenal Rodriguez. They’d come down to the last quarter or what not, so it feels good to get a win.”
And it all started with a wild 10 seconds that turned the tide of the game just before halftime and allowed Gilroy to close out its home season with a win.
The Mustangs (3-6, 2-3) had just finished a 90-yard drive with a Jon Jon Castro five-yard run and were kicking off to the Grizzlies (4-5, 0-5).
The kick was short and started bouncing. It stayed in bounds and Gilroy’s Anthony Angelino jumped on it.
One play and 14-yard later, Castro hit Tanner Wiggins for a touchdown to give Gilroy a 14-13 lead in the span of 10 seconds.
Pajaro never really recovered.
“I knew day games are tough you get a lot of sluggishness. … I knew if we came out with a good mindset we’d be a OK,” said Grizzlies coach Joe Gregoria.
The Grizzlies had gone up 13-0 on a touchdown by Santiago Aguliar, a 23-yard field goal by Marco Lopez and a 25-yard field goal by Lorenzo Torres in the second quarter.
From then on, Pajaro was outscored 29-6 and never scored again on offense.
“As soon as we got that momentum, the defense just locked down,” Castro said. “Hard hits everywhere. Anthony Bollenorf had a big hit at the end.”
Meanwhile, Castro and Noe Garcia got the Mustang run game going as the defense stood tall.
Gilroy held Pajaro Valley to 62 yards of total offense in the second half with two interceptions.
After going up 13-0, the Grizzlies were intercepted three times, including once in the second quarter by Nicholas Perez setting up Gilroy’s first score.
“These defensive back stepped up and everybody did their job and look what happened,” Rodriguez said. “When the kids do what the coaches tell them to do, it works out.
The Grizzlies threw on fourth down on the Mustang 31 and Perez tipped a pass and came down with the ball on the Gilroy 10.
Castro led the Mustangs on a 90-yard, eight-play drive highlighted by a 41-yard run that went an extra 15 yards thanks to a late hit out of bounds.
Castro capped it with a five-yard run for the Mustangs’ first score.
Perez’ interception was also a key momentum swing as Gilroy handed the ball back to PV on a kickoff.
The Mustangs assumed the ball would go out of bounds, but PV’s Rodrigo Jimenez fell on it. The Grizzlies had just gone up 13-0 on a field goal and a score could have put the Mustangs down by three scores.
Instead, Gilroy’s defense came through and its special teams followed.
The Mustangs stole a kickoff and scored just before halftime.
“I’m really happy with the way the not just the special teams reacted but the team reacted,” Rodriguez said. “Adversity happened, they could have easily quit but they kept fighting.”
The second half became a defensive struggle, as Gilroy’s first two drives both stalled, but the Grizzlies threw an interception and had to put on its first two drives.
However, it was PV who struck first in the second half.
Isael Villegas had an interception return for a touchdown that briefly gave the Grizzlies back the lead, but Gilroy’s next two drives both ended in touchdowns.
“After that interception I threw, I didn’t hang my head and we didn’t hang our heads, we just kept batting” Castro said. “In the second half, we kind of started off slow again, but we didn’t let that get to us.”
In the fourth quarter the Mustangs scored on an 11-yard run from Noe Garcia to finish a 69-yard drive. Later, Castro ran for a 43-yard score to put the game away.
Castro gave credit to the offensive line for giving him time and getting a push, particularly on his final touchdown.
“I followed my two blockers Jon Guerrero and Will Soares and as soon as I saw Jon Guerrero put up that guy and just took the outside from there and scored,” Castro said.
Meanwhile, Pajaro Valley’s ended with an interception by Daniel Angelo and a turnover on downs.
The Grizzlies could move the ball well, converting seven of 15 third downs and four of six on fourth.
Gilroy moves on to face North Salinas on the road on Friday, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
